1. Technical Field
The present invention is related generally to oligonucleotide probes. More particularly, the present invention is related to the isolation and cloning of a DNA sequence encoding brain .beta.-amyloid polypeptde of Alzheimer's disease.
2. State of the Art
Extracellular amyloid plaque cores and cerebrovascular amyloid deposits in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and adult Down's syndrome (DS), neurofibrillary tangles of Guamanian amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/Parkinsonism-dementia (ALS/PD), and amyloid of the aging brain contain the same unique amyloid polypeptide, (Glenner, et al, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 122,1131, (1984); Quaranta, et al, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci.. U.S.A. 82, 8729 (1985); Masters, et al, EMBO J. 4, 2757, 1985). In order to understand the origin of these neuropathological changes, it was believed that as first step a cDNA clone encoding this polypeptide should be isolated.